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How To Get Rid Of Roaches

How To Get Rid Of Roaches

One of the best home-made poisons for the do-it-yourself-er, is a boric acid mixture. Boric acid can be bought in most hardware or home improvement stores, and in some pharmacies. Make sure you buy boric acid in powder form. Mix equal amounts of boric acid, granulated sugar, and white flour. The sugar attracts the roaches, the flour makes the mixture stick together, and the boric acid kills them. Because it tastes like food, they also carry some of it back to the nest and kill their young.

Place the mixture in long powder strips beneath appliances, in the far back of kitchen cabinets and in the back of cabinet drawers. The poison will not kill instantly, which may seem like a bad thing, but it’s actually what you want. You want roaches to think this is tasty food, and take it back to the nest.

You may need to reapply the boric acid mixture at least once a week for 3-4 weeks to completely kill the entire nest. And then, you should continue treatment once a month to keep them from returning to your home. Boric acid is not highly toxic, so some contact by children or pets will not harm them. But, you should be careful to place the poison where it is not in direct contact with humans and animals. Some users will create a paper foil tray to enable them to remove or replenish the mixture easier. If you do this, make sure the foil tray is easily accessible from either the floor, the wall or nearby objects. It will do no good to place poison where the pests themselves are unlikely to reach it.

Another method of homemade roach killing is baited traps. Baited traps eliminate the need to pick up dead roaches from in and around your home. A baited trap is simply a jar or small box that has been treated with a strong glue or tape. Most home improvement stores sell pre-made roach bait traps, but there are methods of making your own.

Place a tall glass jar next to a wall, with some kind of bait at the bottom. Roaches will get in by climbing the wall, but once in, they are unable to climb the slippery glass inside the jar. You can also place a small amount of water, about 1 inch deep, in the jar, which will eventually drown the bugs, once they tire of trying to escape. Any bait can be used, even old coffee grinds in the water, but even just the little water will draw them into the jar. Cockroaches are sometimes called water bugs, because of their incessant need of water. Water not only attracts the bugs, but most slow killing poisons, including boric acid, kill by absorbing the much needed water from the roaches body.